1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an enclosed sanitary facility for animals, and more particularly to an enclosed indoor commode for use by cats.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is well known to provide indoor toilet facilities for household pets, particularly cats. Such facilities are normally used to contain a loose, absorbent material, such as granulated clay, for receiving animal excretions. The material is commonly referred to as litter.
It has previously been known to provide litter containers which are substantially completely enclosed except, of course, for an opening providing access for the animal to the enclosed space. Examples of enclosed litter containers are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,246,630 to Dearing et al and the present inventor's U.S. Design Patent Application No. 394,258, filed Sept. 4, 1973, and now abandoned. These two prior art devices include upper and lower enclosure portions which are removably joined together. The lower portion contains the litter, and the upper portion may be separated therefrom to allow for cleaning of the container and changing of the litter.
A drawback of known devices having separable upper and lower enclosure portions is that certain pets have a tendency to spray urine against the inside walls of the container, and the urine may collect in the joint between the upper and lower enclosure portions and leak therefrom. In the known types of enclosed litter boxes with separable enclosure portions, the leakage problem conflicts with the need for providing easy separability between the enclosure portions. That is, the fit between enclosure portions in the known devices must be relatively loose in order to allow for reasonably easy separation of the portions for cleaning, but the looser the fit, the greater the leakage.
3. Objects of the Invention
It is therefore an object of the present invention to overcome the foregoing drawbacks of prior art devices and to provide an enclosed litter container having upper and lower portions which, on the one hand, may be easily separated, but which, when joined together, prevent the escape of urine from the joint between the portions.
It is a further object of the invention to provide an animal litter container with upper and lower portions which may be tightly joined together but also easily separable.
It is a further object of the invention to provide an animal litter container with the foregoing features of tight coupling and easy separability in a device which is simple, easily manufactured, relatively inexpensive and which requires no assembly other than joinder of the two enclosure portions.
It is a further object of the invention to provide an animal litter container wherein the upper and lower portions, when joined, are sealed with respect to each other to prevent the escape of liquid from the joint between the section.
It is a further object of the invention to provide an animal litter container with upper and lower separable enclosure portions in which urine is directed away from the joint between the portions and toward the bottom of the lower portion which contains the litter.
These, and other objects, advantages, and features of the present invention will be apparent from the present specification and drawings.